


Elsewhere University

by honeyobsession



Series: Of Fae And University [1]
Category: Elsewhere University (Webcomic), 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Fae & Fairies, Gen, I dont, M/M, Magical Realism, its all backgrounds rn, maybe even the next one will be who knows
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-06
Updated: 2017-03-06
Packaged: 2018-09-28 16:40:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10138832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/honeyobsession/pseuds/honeyobsession
Summary: Elsewhere University has a habit of drawing itself into their skin, seeping through the gaps of their personality. It leaks into their lives. Not so significantly, not in the way a friend returns with dyed hair, but more of a realising their nails have grown out after not tending to them for a week. But when they take a step back and looked at the present and the past, they realise that they’ve changed fundamentally, as a person in whole.It’s in how they dress, the way they have either a sock or underwear turned inside out. It’s in their accessories, where there’s iron necklaces and earrings and bracelets. It’s in their bags, a packet of ramen seasoning or salt stuffed in the corner and never taken out. It’s in the people they know, that librarian who has a hollow back and that girl in the party who has a tail that disappears and reappears along with the frog eyed boy. It’s in how they live.Most of the students don’t change. It’s a normal university, for most. For them, for the rarest sorts, it’s almost… home.





	

Jungkook has pages torn from his scrapbook. That’s not odd in itself, but when he puts it up on the wall of his room and it’s all _blank_ , you kinda get creeped out. But he’s an art major who’s unnervingly good at everything he does, and everyone has their quirks. Of course, that’s if you don’t look at the seemingly blank pages through a mood ring.

 

Taehyung had a treasure, once given by his father as a graduation present, a simple inexpensive watch with leather straps. Taehyung proudly wore it during the first semester, but returned from a party where he drank too much and gambled more than he thought, and the watch is never to be mentioned again.

 

Jimin, sweet, caring Jimin, makes too many bead necklaces and returns with questionableanimal(?) body parts and locks himself in his room for hours. He once had a packet that rattled and when Namjoon had asked what was inside, expecting coins or sweets, he finds more questions than answers in the form of many shaped teeth. He’s sure that one of them looked like an infant’s.

 

Namjoon doesn’t as much talk about philosophy as he speaks in tongues. Sometimes he switches languages unthinkingly, changing smoothly from English to Korean to Japanese as he talks about how the universe is a speck of dust. Sometimes they hear him speak in a language that is most definitely not human, and have to remind him.

 

Hoseok likes to hum when he has a tune stuck in his head. He handles all instruments remarkably well, from guitars to pianos to trumpets. Sometimes he has a violin in hand and an audience in front and he plays majestically, until he pulls against a string and there isn’t any music coming out. He pretends not to notice, and so does his audience, but it does irk them from time to time. The music returns after some time of silence, along with a few more in the audience.

 

Yoongi has silver nitrate burns on his hands that seem permanent. He has a wariness that knows too much, and sometimes he takes photos to develop in the dark room, but when he emerges there’s nothing in his hands but burns, with eyes that has a little silver in them too.

 

Seokjin stress cooks. When there’s a particular flavour he can’t pin down, he cooks and cooks and _cooks_. He cooks so much that even the seven of them can’t finish everything, so he leaves them out by the door with a slab of butter and picks it up in the next morning with maybe a gift in the form of a vial of ’special’ sauce that he may or may not have used for his finals or a book filled with recipes that’s unorthodox at best and downright unable to be eaten by humans at worst.

 

 

 

They wear bracelets, made of iron that’s soldered in one of Jungkook’s workshops that he applied to back in Busan. It’s pretty good, for someone who only attended a week, and even if it was as hideous as a troll’s mother, it’s the belief and meaning that counts. It isn’t personalised by their names, because that’s too dangerous, but they do have the name of their frat, Beta Tau Sigma.

 

It's not so much of a frat as a house where seven boys live with little inside things only they know. Like how Seokjin's convinced that a banshee adopted their frat two generations ago when someone accidentally gave the wailing creature a gold ring in comfort. They avoid eye contact with the little thing crouching at the corner of the living room. Even if it starts climbing walls, scaling across the ceiling and closer to them.

 

The house is a little too close to the woods, to where _They_ live, so not many visit, but the ones that do aren't human. Once, Jimin and Taehyung had returned home a little late and the path had a blurry edge to it, like when you take a photograph too early out of a darkroom. Immediately, wordlessly, they turn and walk back to the nearest cafe that's mostly human filled and stayed there for the rest of the night. They don't go to parties often after that.

 

Sometimes, the house itself takes on a little odd cheer, and if asked, they swear up and down that it was green or grey once, but now it’s a light blue. It's a house that they're sure changes corridors and rooms every once in a while, but can’t seem to find any proof. They grow used to it. At least, they try to. It's what they have to deal with since coming here. Especially upon seeing things in their true form. Like they said, the house seems to have spent too long near the forest, or maybe a being has come to like the house, all kinds of theories are brought to the table.

 

But in the end, the inhabitants are given the sense of sight that not many others have. It doesn’t always last long, sometimes they only walk a few steps away from the house for all the dark, glamourless Other world to fade. Most of the time, it does not.

 

Perhaps it's the trick of light,people say, with a boy shaped thing laughing like the chimes of bells as he twirls on a statue of their previous headmaster (that's the only statue of a headmaster despite him not being a founder and it having been a century since he died). Or maybe they haven't been sleeping enough, when a creature with a hunched back who doesn't look like it should be on four legs points at them with finger guns and with too many bead necklaces on its long, long neck.

 

Or maybe it's not, as they spot a ten meters tall being that may or may not be female, with whites eyes and something of a skull stretched- and they have to stop looking, staring down at their feet as they're forced to pass by the being as if it wasn't there, tensed to the point of aching.

 

That’s the normal reaction of the previous members of the frat, who cursed the frat house meaningless words and left, packing and never to be seen again. But it’s the seven of them who respect the Others, are even friends with some of them.

 

For example, when on the way to class in shorts and sleeveless t-shirts as the sun shines upon them, Taehyung and Jimin happen to see a small, shrivelled up creature that looks like it’s dying from dehydration. They pour a bottle of water on them, and leave another for them to keep. Or when the cold sweeps in, winter’s fingers stretching to their fullest reach and the worst creatures yawn strong and awake, Seokjin and Jungkook share a pair of gloves, one each, with a Fae who’s young and newer than the rest, who looks like it’s their first time out in Elsewhere. Their bare hands are intertwined for warmth and the Fae watches them with slanted eyes, the third one blinking slowly.

 

It’s always in the little things, like when Yoongi, Hoseok and Namjoon drops by for a cup of coffee, maybe a brownie, in that particular coffee shop that everyone knows and goes to when you really, really need to pass this midterms, and it just so happens that there’s a person standing in front of the entrance where the rain pours ceaselessly, and they give him the umbrella they had just used. It’s not until the person takes the umbrella and gives them a smile that they realise. Because that’s not a smile. Because that’s a gash across a face, no, not like the Joker, at least Joker has teeth and lips, this is as if the being has seen mouths from afar and assumed that this is how a mouth looks like, like a carved wound that shows shark teeth and an endless pit of darkness. But in the end it does’t matter what they are, because no one likes getting wet, so they don’t take back the umbrella, they smile and bid him a good night.

 

It’s not like they go out of their way to be nice. It’s just that their parents raised them right. It’s not like there’s ever a favour in Elsewhere that remains unreturned, anyway.

 

Taehyung and Jimin come home to the nicest flower crowns on their bed, and wear it like twins every alternative day. The flowers are ones they’ve never seen before and they never seem to wilt, even though they know they're real. Jungkook and Seokjin find a pair of matching coats, colours changing to fit their mood of the day, or to compliment their clothes. They wear those on special occasions or on particularly cold days. Yoongi, Hoseok and Namjoon receive bracelets. It’s nothing special, just a bit of twine twisted into a thin string. The only time you realise that it’s a little odd is when they return from the pouring rain and don’t seem the least bit wet.

 

It’s general knowledge that the boys at Beta Tau Sigma are genuine, nice people. Especially if you ask the crows.

 

But make no mistake, they may be nice but they aren’t stupid. They’re kind, honest and terrifyingly similar to the Gentry.

 

Maybe that’s why the Gentry likes them so well.

**Author's Note:**

> if you enjoyed this little background sketch i did, do tell me, or even better, ask me about it, because i have many more stories to tell. on the other hand, if you enjoy the idea of this university, do look up elsewhereuniversity.tumblr.com because that place is wonderful and not many know about it yet.


End file.
